Pitch battle: Football teams call foul on rising hire costs

Amateur footballers have called foul after the cost of pitch-hire rose by a fifth in just two years. League officials say the increase could force teams already struggling to cover their costs to fold. Football teams playing on pitches in the borough will be charged £713 next season, up from £620 this year and £595 in 2009.

Amateur footballers have called foul after the cost of pitch-hire rose by a fifth in just two years. League officials say the increase could force teams already struggling to cover their costs to fold.

Football teams playing on pitches in the borough will be charged £713 next season, up from £620 this year and £595 in 2009.

League bosses say teams' finances are already stretched to the limit and warn further rises could see the final whistle called on the borough's amateur football scene.

Trevor Jones, chairman of the Rochdale and District Sunday League, said: "Our teams are getting squeezed from every direction and if we don't make a stand then we will go to the wall just like countless other leagues have in Manchester.

"We are one of the biggest Sunday leagues in the north west and have enjoyed a resurgence over the last couple of years, but it's getting harder and harder for our teams to be able to afford to have a kick around on a Sunday."

Forty teams competed in the Rochdale Sunday League last season, including Cardinal Langley-based Broadway Celtic and Italia and Middleton Colts, Duke of Wellington, DC United and Gardeners Arms who play their homes games at Bowlee.

Next season they will face an annual £713 pitch fee for an average of 10 home games a season, £25 a game for a referee as well as insurance costs and competition entry fees.

Back in 1989 fees were just £125 a year. Mr Jones also criticised the standard of the pitches and added: "I think when our teams started to have to pay around £500 we began to think it was getting a bit too much.

"If you look at other authorities Oldham charges £486 and Burnley charges £525, I don't see why Rochdale has to charge so much more."

A spokesman for Rochdale council said it was not making a profit from the fees paid by teams.

Council leader Colin Lambert, said: "The reality is we are having to cut £164m from our budget, that is more than 50 per cent of what we spend.